Quote of the Day, by Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
Remarks delivered at the Metropolitan Club, Lagos, on Tuesday 5th March, 2013
Quoted by Nigerian newspaper, THISDAY
“Fixing the financial system doesn’t fix much. How many people are employed in the financial system compared to the number of people employed and the impact you get from the agricultural sector, manufacturing? Financial services sector cannot be the engine for growth. I have had this debate over and over again about bank workers being sacked. The banking industry is not set up to create jobs within itself; it is set up to provide capital to people who create jobs. By the time your biggest employers become the banks and the government, you have a problem. The government and the banks are supposed to build the rest of the economy.”
He’s right. Institutions that provide only services cannot grow an economy. Except if they provide that service to numerous other countries.